RECAP: Hawks 89, Pacers 86

The Hawks were down by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter, but a few adjustments from coach Larry Drew, as well as timely shots from Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague, gave Atlanta their 2nd win on the year. The Pacers, who are missing Danny Granger, only scored nine points in the final period, despite scoring 25 or more in the first three quarters.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Al Horford: Horford couldn’t do much on the defensive end against David West, but he was his normal, efficient self on offense. He did most of his damage on Roy Hibbert, including an absolutely ferocious dunk in the 2nd quarter. 8/10

Josh Smith: His scoring performance tapered off after he scoring on three consecutive post plays to start the game, but his passing game was excellent with seven assists. He only took four jumpers, which is… progress? 7/10

Zaza Pachulia: Going up against Roy Hibbert, Zaza got the well-deserved start and did not disappoint. He had 14 rebounds, incluing six on the offensive end, and completely took the Pacers’ big-man out of the game. His only drawback was his three turnovers. 9/10

Lou Williams: We didn’t get “4th-Q Lou” this time around. He played pretty terrible, even though he did have a couple of key dunks. 4/10

Jeff Teague: He finished with 15-6-6 and three steals in 32 minutes. He wasn’t really successful early in the game, but he stayed aggressive, and his back-to-back buckets in the final minute were the daggers for the Hawks. 8/10

Ivan Johnson: He had five points and three rebound in nine minutes, and led the team with a plus/minus of +11. He was really a non-factor, though. 5/10

Kyle Korver: He was doing the “I”m really terrible” thing to start the game again, but his back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter were HUGE. 6/10

Anthony Tolliver: Do I want Tolliver to keep playing? 1/10

Devin Harris: Played like a guard-version of Anthony Tolliver. 1/10

DeShawn Stevenson: He only played 17 minutes, but he made his only two shots (both threes) and really didn’t do anything wrong. 6/10

Larry Drew: He made two great decisions in this game: starting Zaza at center with Smoove and Horford, and going zone in the fourth quarter to disrupt the Pacers offense. His only bad decision (waiting too long to call a timeout on Indy’s 18-0 run) is negated by the other two and the win. 7/10

The opposition: David West and George Hill both played great in this game for the Pacers, but everyone else was pretty terrible. Roy Hibbert was completely neutralized by Zaza, and Paul George did not play like the player that many analysts think he can be. Lance Stephenson played 28 minutes for some reason. 4/10